Reddit's new paid ads look exactly like user posts

Calling them “free-form ads,” Reddit said the new advertisements are its most native format ever, designed to look and feel like community content shared by real people.

The ads, meant to mimic the site’s megathreads, will enable advertisers to utilize a variety of formats in one post, including images, videos, and text.

According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.

The next time you see an interesting post in your Reddit feed, take a closer look - because it might just be a paid advertisement.

Mereo,

“Just like the megathread,” an announcement reads, “free-form ads encourage multiple users to come together, get the information they need, and deep dive into the topic at hand.” Reddit explained that the open-ended nature of these ads will give advertisers more freedom to explore creativity and, hopefully, to start conversations with users.

Enshittification to the extreme…

MisterMoo,

Hahaha, what’s your problem, come on, let’s just dive into the topic of how delicious Snickers™ bars are and what a great value they are too!

Kbobabob,

I hear Snickers is making smaller candies at the normal price.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

But still packed with peanuts! Snickers™ really satisfies!

TexasDrunk,

Hey, you seem like you’re having a hard time. You’re not you when you’re hungry. Have a Snickers.

kjaeselrek,

I’m just here to talk about rampart

jaybone,

Years ago you used to be able to comment in ad threads. And most people were just calling the ad out on its bullshit. So they stopped allowing comment replies in those threads.

This will somehow be different?

BeatTakeshi,
@BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world avatar

I like how they try to sell the idea that tricking users is in fact a nice and innovative way to advertise

ilinamorato,

“we could just lie to people” is an advertising tactic somebody always comes up with. It’s a Rubicon that absolutely shreds customer goodwill, though.

Assuming, of course, it isn’t already shredded.

DaddleDew,

And that the “increased community engagement” isn’t mainly comments of people complaining about being tricked into clicking on an ad.

Dkarma,

Apparently click fraud is fine on reddit 🤷‍♂️

gregorum,

“It’s monetizable!”

EddieTee77,

Whatever it takes before their IPO. It’s disgusting

jaybone,

Have they still not done their IPO yet??

Shit or get off the pot.

JohnEdwa,

The moderation effort required to clean up these ads must be massive.

BeatTakeshi,
@BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world avatar

I am sure that in the first iteration they did not remove the “Report” function, but those suckers learn fast

WhatsHerBucket,
@WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world avatar

Who didn’t see that coming?

Obligatory fuck spez

NateNate60,

If it’s not already the law, it needs to be. It should be required that paid advertising be disclosed in all contexts.

baru,

That’s already the case in at least the Netherlands.

Pra,

In another article they post a photo of an example from reddit and it does say promoted next to the post title. So there’s something there because there is an FTC law saying ads must be disclosed. Obviously they want to obfuscate that it’s an ad as much as possible though so who knows how that’ll change.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

Like so:

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/EOCzjSDTPBvgdkAo0lPBkg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTEzODY-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/techcrunch_350/aa5ff9510bf1b80f634fe31a06d71ef6

Annoying and all that, but something pretty common in most social media sites I see nowadays. I quickly learn to filter anything with that label out as junk.

halcyoncmdr,
@halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world avatar

Paid ads should not only need to be marked, but noticeably different in a timeline. Something obvious like a different post color.

Twitter fits ads in the middle of content and just puts a little tiny “Ad” in the upper corner (on mobile at least) and at a glance scrolling through you can’t tell it’s an ad, other than all of their ads now being for some shady mobile game that lies about how it looks or crypto in various forms. Those should be required to have a different color background than actual user posts, not just a size 8 font “Ad” in the corner of the post on a 3.5" screen.

In fact, let’s make it impossible to implement well, let’s take a page out of the NHTSA handbook and require the “Ad” text to be a specific real world size like they do with the car warning lights. Make them figure out what size it needs to be for various screen sizes and display DPI if they want to shove ads in the middle of content like it was user posts.

NateNate60,

I think what YouTube does would be sufficient. There’s a noticeably different video progress bar colour (yellow instead of red) and a large "Skip Ad in __" in the corner, plus the advertiser information on the side.

Reddit could do this by putting a “Paid advertisement” watermark in the corner or putting “Advert” where the upvote/downvote buttons are and colouring it some noticeable colour, like yellow, and I would be satisfied with that.

jol,

Pretty sure this is not legal in many countries. Adverts must be at the very least labeled as such, like Google does with a tiny almost unnoticeable label.

Damage,

In my country TV ads are explicitly marked with text in one corner

Gestrid,

In the US, most TV commercials are so obviously TV commercials that they don’t label them. Some TV stations do have bumpers they air when the TV show goes to break and comes back from break.

Gonkulator,
@Gonkulator@lemm.ee avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Alexstarfire,

    That’s not a nice thing to say about Trump.

    gardylou,

    That comparison isn’t nice to the chimp!

    DaddleDew,

    Just deleted my Reddit account. I haven’t used it in over a year now anyway. I was waiting for something like this to make a statement.

    Krudler,

    It’s been like one of those long running soap operas.

    For at least the last 5 years “today’s” front page is nearly indistinguishable from “yesterday’s”.

    You can disappear for 6 months and come back and it’s exactly the same. You’ve missed nothing.

    Orange man bad, fascism bad, phobia bad, sexism bad, racism bad, bosses suck, inflation sucks, boomers suck, ooh a celebrity! Celebrity dead so sad.

    Sterile_Technique,
    @Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

    moon,

    Why does that dude have his own Wikipedia page lol, and why is it so long

    AbidanYre,

    Because he’s been a well known author for two decades?

    AnarchistArtificer,

    I honestly find it impressive how Reddit continues to find new ways to enshittify the platform

    jivandabeast,

    I honestly find it impressive how quickly the word “enshittification” is brought up in Lemmy comments

    (/s, but we do talk about it a lot here)

    lolcatnip,

    People who don’t care about enshittification, or who don’t think about it specifically in connection to Reddit, aren’t here because they’re using Reddit instead.

    gardylou,

    To be fair, it’s often brought up accurately. Contemporary internet is a deeply enshittified place.

    Cold_Brew_Enema,

    You mean like Linux?

    I use Ubuntu, btw

    FlyingSquid,

    Is it really enshittification if you can just turn it off if you don’t like it? Adding useless features alone doesn’t seem to be enshittification to me- it’s when those useless features become inescapable where the problem lies.

    Sterile_Technique,
    @Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

    I mean, I’m here specifically because of enshittification. Had reddit actually gotten better over time, I’d still be there; but every year came with another handful and anti-user bullshit. Finally threw my hands up, said fuck it, deleted my account, and started scouring the internet for an alternative. Eventually stumbled into Lemmy and haven’t had a reason to look back.

    …I don’t think my story here is especially unique, either. Seems just about everyone here is a pissed off ex-redditer, so enshittification is hot on all of our brains.

    Qwaffle_waffle,

    It’s like they’re racing to the bottom with Twitter

    AbidanYre,

    Steve does love Elon. It makes sense for Reddit to follow Twitter’s lead.

    notapantsday,

    This feels like something that would be illegal in the EU. I have no idea if it actually is.

    Ephera,

    It’s illegal here in Germany. Ads need to be clearly recognizable as such.

    Madeyro,

    So they will serve different frontend for different people based on location?

    Miaou,

    Yup. Just moving between German and French websites can be a pain in the ass. Default filters in shops, prices with or without taxes displayed first for professional things, different menus etc. They can be different in the most subtle ways, which is way worse imo.

    Don’t get me started on websites who think they know better than you which website you’d like to visit. Stop redirecting me based on my IP or language settings! OK now I’m just venting sorry

    ilinamorato,

    Sounds like you need EXPRESS® VPN™! Use code LEMMY at checkout for 10% off!

    (/s, but I hope that was obvious)

    Ephera,

    Honestly, I expect them to just remain in violation, unless they get sued or reprimanded by one of our user protection organisations.

    But yeah, they can serve different frontends or just with different configuration for different user groups. They probably do that already, e.g. to display a cookie banner for users in the EU.

    Yamayo,

    It’s an European law, thankfully.

    cmrn,

    Clicking an image on Twitter and it actually being an external link was the last thing I ever did on that platform.

    londos,

    I was curious about the “Philly cream cheese” campaign example they mentioned. I assume it’s this post.

    The top reply is trolling them, which is awesome. So much for increased engagement.

    But even funnier is the next top reply, which seems sincere. But when you look at the user profile, almost all of u/sunshinedogger’s comments in the last year are on sponsored posts. So even the positive engagement is manufactured?

    LiveLM,

    Man, reading this post nearly gave me a headache. I hate it when brands try to act all ‘hip and cool’.

    Help us fill this thread with ways you use PHILLY Cream Cheese that shouldn’t be delicious✨ but are ✨

    Yes, something about cream cheese freshly squeezed straight from the brick really does hit different. Why let a little packaging get between you and your PHILLY, am I right?

    Shut up brand. Shut the fuck up brand. Jesus Christ

    ilinamorato,

    When it’s a social media manager acting like an actual human, it’s one thing (like when the person running the Moon Pie account roasted the guy for telling them they were wasting their life), and the non-profits are almost always awesome at this (follow libraries, seriously). But if you’re trying to write something relatable and your brand guidelines won’t let you write about it in the way a normal human would (all-caps “PHILLY,” writing “searching with Google” instead of “googling,” ©®™ spam, etc) you’ve already lost.

    reflectedodds,

    Dang good catch on the second user, I wouldn’t have noticed since I usually don’t look at people’s profiles.

    It’s kind of funny that reddit will become this chamber of advertisers making posts and fake users “engaging” while the real people all migrate to lemmy.

    laughterlaughter,

    Did you really think all those positive comments were genuine? I almost puked reading the first few.

    londos,

    I’m also curious if the fake users are part of the campaign or if reddit is scamming the advertisers too.

    slaacaa,

    Absolutely, you cannot trust reddit content anymore. If anybody wants to still visit the site, I recommend you buy and AdBlock Gold subscription, which you can get at half the price now. Link and discount code in my profile

    Wiz,

    Ublok Origin on Firefox works great, and is free.

    Discount code available for half the price of free!

    Gestrid,

    Weren’t they also caught using AI bots to drive up engagement in some subreddits, too? (I think it was supposed to be some of their subreddits in foreign languages or something.)

    laughterlaughter,

    Of course it’s manufactured! And I’ll bet you a blowjob from my cousin Chester that it’s all AI-generated.

    swab148,
    @swab148@startrek.website avatar

    furiously googles how to prove that a post is made with AI

    gardylou,

    Google: serves 5 ads about AI softwares that make posts for you, followed by AI generated content about making AI generated posts.

    Wiz,

    “As an AI language model…”

    michaelmrose,

    In a few years my computer will be able to run an acceptable but obviously not chatGPT4 level AI that will among other things pre filter this crap from my feed as part of normal ad blocking. Buckle up bitches.

    fosstulate,

    AI filtering of Reddit isn’t the way. The way is leaving the platform. This is beginning to remind me of the ‘decrapify Windows’ YT videos that offer 20-step multi-application guides for getting a tolerable experience, instead of explaining how to install Mac/Linux. Time spent on a rotten foundation is wasted.

    TheTimeKnife,
    @TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world avatar

    Jesus reddit is run by such massive shitheads.

    waterSticksToMyBalls,

    My first subreddit to get banned was one dedicated to pointing out obvious ad campaigns.

    humbletightband,

    And I bet it was banned before the infamous subreddit about underaged girls or even before bans of incel network

    waterSticksToMyBalls,

    If was that post jail bait but pre incel ban wave if I recall correctly. They said it was targeted harassment/brigandine bc all the posts specifically named the accounts pushing each campaign.

    Agent641,

    “How do you do, fellow redditors? Pray tell, of all the Dodge Ram variants, which one is your favorite, and what make it your choice as a discerning American patriot?”

    Ohi,

    You plant shit seeds, you get shit weeds.

    If it’s one thing I learned from the last BS they pulled during the protests last year, it’s that their actions will have little impact on reddit user behavior. People will complain and express outrage, but the vast majority of users will just sit back and take it like good little AI trainers.

    I for one will not be one of them. When they removed mods from communities that were in protest, that’s enough for me to stay clear going forward. As much as I miss the content, it warms my soul every time I think about the ad revenue they’re missing out on by my own personal decisions to not consume it.

    laughterlaughter,

    I never went back to /r/programming after they forced it open with new mods.

    I checked reddit every now and then after that, until I read a piece of tragic news that really shocked me and left me sad for days. Then I realized that reddit just stopped being a fun place - the whole point I started visiting it in the first place. Never went back, never looked back.

    Zedstrian,

    Entirely agreed, though I wish there were more of a joint effort between Lemmy and Kbin communities to find novel ways of getting more redditors to switch over to the Fediverse. Wishful thinking perhaps, though it’d be nice to have more active communities around here.

    madcaesar,

    The biggest problem with lemmy is that we don’t have a good way to search for info.

    Usually I do shit like “reddit monitor recommandation”, and I’ll get some thread where I can read opinions.

    We can’t do they with lemmy 😐

    ilinamorato,

    A while back somebody posted info on how to make a custom DDG search that would search the most common Lemmy instances with one keyword. If you’re interested I can go digging for it.

    Wiz,

    I’m not the OP, but I would love to know!

    ilinamorato,

    Sure thing! The OP is here: mander.xyz/post/7198692

    Wiz,

    That makes total sense. Thanks!

    ilinamorato,

    You’re welcome!

    madcaesar,

    Honestly your mental health has almost certainly improved since leaving that place.

    Their algorithms are designed to pump engagement and outrage. They want you either scared or angry and it sucks.

    Lemmy has less content, but is also less addictive and less toxic. Yes it’s still social media, it still has shit bags but the numbers are far better.

    T156,

    Lemmy has less content, but is also less addictive and less toxic. Yes it’s still social media, it still has shit bags but the numbers are far better.

    Although part of that could also just be due to the size of the place. Lemmy’s still absolutely tiny compared to Reddit, and like a lot of social media’s early days, it’ll likely only get worse as more people move in.

    Early Reddit would have been pretty cosy and non-toxic, that would only come in later.

    kromem,

    One of the smarter ad analysts I knew likened ad spaces to ecosystems, where a bunch of companies come in with crap ads that aren’t related to what people are actually in market for or are misleading, and act as polluters which turn people off from green pastures.

    As an example, when mobile browsing was first getting off the ground CTR for mobile banner ads was 15%.

    Reddit’s metrics are about to go to shit.

    CitizenKong,

    15 percent for banner ads is actually pretty good.

    laughterlaughter,

    Yeah. That’s why OP mentioned it.

    But his point is that that number has gone down to shit because later the banner ads became shit.

    T156,

    If the ads weren’t terrible, people would not have invented and popularised the ad-blocker.

    laughterlaughter,

    We’re not disagreeing here.

    Stoneykins,

    Solution is simple, community should turn any suspiciously product focused thread into an advertisers nightmare of filth

    Then the ads will just be the ones with the comment sections turned off

    AtmaJnana,

    Yeah, let’s turn our space into a cesspool! We’ll show those darned invaders!

    businessfish,
    @businessfish@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    i don’t think many people would consider posts that are literally paid advertisements part of “our space”

    The_Tired_Horizon,
    @The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world avatar

    Those types of ads have been there since near the start. Its been confusing people for years. All that will happen is the popular non-ad posts will get accused of being paid for.

    watersnipje,

    Yeah I remember a few years ago when there was suddenly some sort of hype around Nutella and Nutella-based memes. Which just so happened to coincide with a major Nutella advertising campaign on other platforms.
    People were eating it up and generating content, essentially doing an advertiser’s work for free 🤷‍♀️

    The_Tired_Horizon,
    @The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world avatar

    Didnt work out for Cinnamon 😂

    watersnipje,

    What are you referring to?

    The_Tired_Horizon,
    @The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world avatar

    The Cinnamon challenge.

    watersnipje,

    Was that related to a company campaign?

    The_Tired_Horizon,
    @The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world avatar

    Well the nutella one wasnt originally…

    watersnipje,

    How do you know?

    Test_Tickles,

    They are getting more subtle. Ever notice how actors suddenly rise to the top? Posts about how awesome they are, or how great things they have done are? Right before I left Reddit it was awash with Pedro Pascal and how amazing and humble and down to earth he was, then the new mandalorian came out and after a few weeks, no one gave a fuck about our new god.
    I remember I first noticed it years ago when there was this sudden craze for Bradley Cooper, and how he spoke French (really broken, highschool level French). And everyone was amazed at it like speaking a second language made him amazing. It felt really weird and condescending how much praise he was getting for being willing to not only speak to these “lowly foreigners” in “their crazy language”, but also to bother to learn it in the first place. And all I could think was “you’re talking about French right? An optional language that’s taught and the vast majority of high schools across the US?” I mean good on him and great job, but wtf? And then suddenly silence… Bradley who?

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